Digging the roots of the family tree

Everybody has a family history...
What you are is partly or greatly defined by the genotypes....if not the phenotypes of environment. I know that there is no need for justifying the need for this blog by such arbit statements.

History was a passion which I grew up with and the one which I keep tab on. Having had spent my formative years on the lap of my Vaapa(grandpa) and in the soot filled Kitchen of my ancestral house along with my Umma(grandma), stories about their ancestors competed with each other. When Vappa substantiated his ancestral superiority with solid facts, Umma traced her Panikkar heritage from Nair families she recalled from her family lores. Tracing my ancestry remained a hobby or engagement in my later years thanks to these initiation by a cold war between grandpa and grandma which I refereed in my fun filled childhood.

My grandpa(Vappa) belonged to a family called Kandachamveetil and this was supposed to be near our KMJLPS, school where Moothumma and Nadeerappachi teaches. Vappa's father Kochukunju was among five strong and stout brothers who inherited bit of good wealth and local lordship . They spent way high that they had spolit much of their ancestral wealth. When my great grandfather died in the childhood of my Vappa, there was little for the family to live on, given their status. So Vappa after his above average 6th Forum qualification sailed for Malaysia to build up a wealth for his family including his trow brothers. Here Vappa's mother had a much better known lineage. She belonged to Uppootil and Ampanatt families which are I think rank 1 and 2 families of the Mahal jamath. These ranks are not Arbit. Of the 30 days before Rabiul Awwal 14(Milad E Sherief) and I think for Tharaveeh nights also, the food and finance for conducting the Mavlood and Ratheeb were to be given by the major families of Mahal based on such a rank.. Our home had the eight night, so eighth rank. And there goes a hypothesis which I want to dig up. That my Vappa has a lineage with origins in Kozhikkode or somewhere in Malabar. This is unbelievable to many, I guess. But there are certain hints which I wish to work upon after I get some quality time.

My grandma has a more celebrated lineage. What I told about my Vappa's was through a bit of research in my childhood. But the My Grandmother being the daughter of a Panikkar was a big issue. My great grandpa (Umma's father) was Ibrahim Panikkar. They were connected to Thayyil Panikkars, which was immediately the branch of the same family and being connected to Keralapuram Panikkars. Keralapuram Panikkars was supposed to be a Muslim family converted from a Nair family near Kundara, Kollam who declined to drop their caste name. My Vaapicha often used to tell about a distant connection of these people with Niranam Panickers also and often used to connect an ancestry with lineage of these famous poets. And I evidently saw signs of matriarchy and matriliny in this family. May be it is chance or not, my father and his siblings were more attached to the maternal family than paternal They were very attached to his uncles. Even my father was named shajahan (against trend of Abdul **** like my Moothappa and Kochappas) by his uncle Late Mamsali Mama.

On the other side, my mother is a Tamil Ravuther and that made a lot of difference in my lives. Two polar cultures at my paternal and maternal sides. Two different languages spoken. One being a crude mix of Southern Tamil with largely malayalam words (we cousins called it Mamizh). A Strong attachment to Tamil and anything Tamil was a significant feature in my Mother and her family at Kottarakara. When my my Periya Mama congratulated my self learned knowledge of Tamil inscribed as my first letters of Tamil alphabet on the walls of my home and the happiness which I view on the face of my relatives when they cross Shencottah gap from the west, I find my Vappi's theory validated. Iron tends to rust. No doubt , my mother is nicknamed K-TV my father for her automatic choice of this channel for TV Viewing.
I did conduct my informal interviews with my relatives out in Kottarakkara to trace my lineage. Both my maternal grandpa(Athoi) and grandma (Ammoi) were found to belong to a Ravuther lineage from Manamadurai in Sivakasi district, My research stops here as I have lost both my maternal grandparents in childhood. I still try to dig-up the details of my relatives this side too.

Introducing myself

What explains me...

The mental categorisation of people

Hyper sensitivity to the outer world and attitudes. A friend’s frown or avoidance of an acquaintance can weaken me.

Talkativeness and ability to sociable with people of the same wavelength

Inability to keep silence and stop himself from advising or suggesting others without being asked to

Interacting with the working men /people of lower rungs of the society

Travelling in trains , especially when they cover bridges and also the flight and climbing down of suburban MRTS trains

Maps, places , courses of rivers and railway lines on it

Craving for anything which is Tamil Brahmin-ish—not to woo anybody or bring a class in me.

Interest in Cultures, their cuisine, dressing,symbols and Religions

Historic films, films about the real time incidents.. I hate science fiction, violence and masala

Ancient and Medieval History-Dynasties and wars- Islamic History and South Indian History- Current world affairs bores me a bit

Aversion to sports in any form

Carnatic dance . Unlimited urge to learn, discouraged by everybody else around me

Listening to Carnatic music as a rasika

Interest in anything related to railways

Jumping up and down after seeing anything which has Math and later realizing that I have fallen into a “Chakravyuha” of mathematical complexities

Complaining or putting all the blame for the problems in my life on exogenous factors

Trying to do anything pseud and 'show off' in academics and end up loosing out the core stuff,

Love to get respect from others, loosing the respect by own words and deeds and later repenting for the loss of respect.

Aarambha shooratham.

Trying to associate a person with his caste, community and region with his speech and behaviour

Role of My Grandfather in my life- He created the first outer world in my dreams

Beyond my family,

Women folk of my family and cousins especially Nadeera Appachi and Amjuda Akka, Shafeekikka and Thoufeer, Maryem and Hiba, Nida Fathima and Isha

Select friends

The dew drops on the green leaves in the dawn

The reddish yellow sky near the horizon in the dusk

The thick fog of the Chennai winter

The happiness of the eve and the morning of Eid and Onam

The thought of food during the festivals

Moothantevila House/Home

My Vadakkumthala village when I left in 2000

Love for Psephology – election day for me would be like World Cup final for you, love of memorising constituencies, its contestants and reading election reviews.

Learning languages and even dialects. Kannada and Telugu and Urdu now

Love to be in Karavali coast, Agumbe and Godvari on a boat.

Urge to establish with proof that my paternal ancestors are from Malabar

Pride for having a Tamil ancestry in me,

Playing with my friends in native place in my child hood.

Rat race to participate in competitions in my childhood

Hatred of people who ditch me at important points of life

Explaining daily happenings with every point of detail to Vappicha and Ummicha at the end of the day

Sambar Idly, Curd with sugar, Sweets and Fruit drinks--- You know why i am expanding day by day

Eating a newspaper a day, aversion to editorials